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Comments
MikeS.
So I went on a test drive with the wife this afternoon. The Avalon easily exceeded all of my expectations and then some. It is a wonderful roomy vehical that handles very crisply yet says to everyone else on the road, "you wish you could afford this." Very very cool. OH and about that sound system in there...
...They had to take the thing in for a cleaning after the test drive, my drool was all over the the place! Primo system in that car. Excellent clarity and a breeze to use. The BONUS today was the wife is now voting my Audi off the island. So, this will definitely be the next car for me. I didn't start talking price today and all that fun for two reasons:
1) Not ready just yet
2) Would have killed the new car buzz I had going
OH and to answer the leading question on the board right now... NONE of the tailpipes were uneven on the Avalons I looked at in the dealership's lot.
BTW, for those of you who run into a push salesperson when you go looking at the Avalon... Just turn up the stereo. :P
-LoUdSpEaKeR
...Still feelin' that buzz. :shades:
It's Saturday so I thought I'd wash our new XLS. Thought I better check the exhaust pipes for alignment, and guess what? They are both hanging exactly the same. Maybe the Canadian Avalon's don't have the same problem. Next time I am near the dealers, I'll check a few more. I checked the date of manufacture and mine was built in Feb.
Hello Gladiator99,
I'm Glad for you, and for any others who own even-tailpiped Avalons on either side of the 49th Parallel. But the answer is elsewhere: my XLS is also Canadian. It was built in January, arrived Feb 28, delivered March 1. I'll be curious to hear from others as well.
I was at the dealer's today to make an appointment to fix the misalignment. In my car the problem is minor, but in another XLS in their showroom it was very noticeable and I had a look under it today. Both tailpipes/mufflers are hung from identical short, rigid rubber mounts of oval shape. I don't see how they could adjust these mounts. The L pipe pointed a lot further downward and also inward (towards the license plate), compared to the R pipe. Either the left tailpipe(s) was (were) misaligned when built at the factory, or the paths of the R and L tailpipes are different (not likely). In my view, the rubber hammer will still be the simple solution, but I'll leave this up to the service dept. (to honour Ronn's concerns about warranty voiding!)
By the way, as I was about to leave, they offfered to wash my Titanium XLS. Not that it looked like it needed it -- more likely, the service guy was looking forward to drive it a bit!
have a good one, havalong
best wishes,
havalong
So far I am pretty happy with the car. I am constantly learning more things about the vehicle. Can't wait to ready the owners guide from cover to cover to see what else it does.
Only one problem so far. The rear sun shade binds when it is lowered. Stopped by the dealer today. They tried lubing it, but no luck. They are ordering a new mechanism.
Thanks for your suggestion. I went over to a local auto accessories store earlier and they had my eagle one polish and also meguiar's gold class clear coat liquid car wax. One of the employees behind the counter suggested the meguiar's as he said it was easier to apply and buff off. Well I tried it and it was very easy to use, and has a great shine to it. My car is the Blizzard white pearl so I had to really look from different angles to see if I had buffed out all the wax. It looks great. It is probably similar to the meguiar's that you use. Thanks again!!!!
Mackabee
LOL for awhile...that's great. Make sure to take a picture for us, and make sure her head is held high!
RONN
I want a quality sound that will help me to hear, and the JBL works for me.
As someone posted earlier, many of the settings such as bass etc. have to be set to the persons liking, so I messed with the adjustments to get it just right. Lots of bass I love!!
RONN
My Avalon ordered with option B has the 12 speaker JBL surround sound system and I think it sounds great, but you may have to set the balance, fade, bass and treble, to your liking. My wife doesn't like the system too loud so I can only pump it up when I'm alone, then you can really appreciate the power of this system. I am sure there are better speakers on the market but the stock ones seem to be good enough for my ears. It's funny how your car runs better and sounds better right after you wash and wax it. L.O.L. Take Care!!!
2. Tires may be the problem. Toyota have experienced a lot of problems with previous model Avalons and current Camrys pulling to the LEFT when fitted with Continentals. I had this very problem with my '02 Avalon until I chucked the Continentals in favor of Bridgestone LSH's. You either have Bridgestones or Michelins, but try moving the tires around and see if the pulling corrects itself or changes. There may be a defect in one or more of the tires.
If the car is pulling to the right, the front right or rear right may be underinflated, or the front left or rear left overinflated. These conditions cause a change in the rolling circumference which causes "steer" in favor of the wheel that has a smaller rolling circumference. If the tires are all overinflated, then the vehicle tends to become very sensitive to road angle and road crown, and may pull to the right in the right hand lane and to the left in the left lane. If alignment is out, the steering wheel can be off center as well as the car pulling to left or right.
3. Take the car to a Bridgestone or Michelin dealer (depending on the brand of tire). They will check the tires under warranty for any defects, out of round or other problems. They may check the alignment for free and give you a report if they believe the tires are good, or offer to do an alignment for about $40. In my experience, tire dealers are much better at resolving these kind of problems than regular dealers. If they charge you for the alignment and it resolves the problem, take the bill back to the Toyota dealer and ask the service manager for a refund. You stand a good chance of getting your $40 back, if they failed to correct the problem themselves.
4. When new vehicles are transported, they are tied down during transit by chains which may bend suspension components if too tight. This can also cause pulling problems. You need to eliminate the tires as the cause first.
Thanks
MikeS.
Hope you have better luck with solving your pull problem than I had and still have with my 03. The new Avalons overall appear to be great cars and I hope you don't have my problem. The long missive that follows is actually the short story! Lesson I learned is that even a competent and honest dealership might not be able to solve the problem and don't depend on your Toyota region or "independent arbitration" folks either.
After the first few hundred miIes I noticed my new Avalon had a definite pull to the left on the slightest road crown to the left. The slight, but constant pressure I had to keep on the steering wheel during my first three hour trip, much of it in the left lane, was felt in my upper arm that evening. On a perfectly flat road it always tracked straight (and still does). There was a very slight pull to the right on a road crown to the right.
Took it back to dealer who said it was "slightly" out of alignment. They tried to correct it. But it still had the problem. Had tires rotated, inflation checked, etc. Tires not the problem. Second try the dealer did a four wheel alignment and said it was now within specs. Still pulled to the left excessively. So I tried to live with it for 4 months. An otherwise excellent car was undriveable for more than a few hours on the highway! Took it to a well-qualified independent alignment shop. They confirmed the problem and said they could probably fix it but it would take some time and several hundred dollars. Took that report back to Toyota dealership and they tried a third time to fix it. Still couldn't correct the problem. So dealer said it was okay for independent shop to work on it. The independent expert basically changed the caster and after a number of test drives and tweaks, he minimized the left pull so that it equalled the slight pull to the right. (Toyota reimbursed me for the independent shop's costs.) The car was now driveable although I still had a question: "Do all Avalons have this slight pull on any road crown."
Four month later I actually met with a Toyota regional tech rep who drove the car for an hour on various roads. He said, "Yep, it's okay and that's exactly how they all drive." I was prepared to live with that. Then, being a friendly, helpful fellow he took it into the local dealer's shop to get the actual measurements so that I could give them to any alignment shop in the future. That's when everything fell apart. He said the alignment was outside of specs and "might cause future problems." But he would give the local Toyota techs specific instructions and the result might make the car "drive even better." Naturally I let them work on it. Well, it was a week later when I got the car back. They had changed the front struts, other parts, and even the front subframe. The result was that the car was "within specs" but now had the original problem -- a pull to the left again.!
The Toyota region said they would not do anything more. So I went to arbitration asking that Toyota replace the car or buy it back. The arbitration panel turned me down. They wrote that they had considered my state's lemon laws, etc., and that the car was still under warrantee. They apparently ignored my cover letter that explained what had transpired, that Toyota wouldn't work on it anymore, and that the car was undriveable on most highways. The arbitration folks could not force Toyota to do any warrantee work!
In fact, I could have gone the lemon law route and, according to a superb local consumer law firm, would have won and Toyota would have been forced to buy back the car and pay my legal fees. Only problem was that it would have dragged on for months before I got my judgement. In the meantime I would have an undriveable car for a second summer. Went to two more independent alignment shops who confirmed the problem Back to the original independent shop who did the same work again and it cost me several hundred dollars which Toyota wont reimburse. The car pull to the left is now is normal but the pull to the right is greater than before. I can see having it in for a readjustment several times a year, depending on what kind of roads I'll be on.
As I said, this is my short version and I apologize for it being so long. I learned a big lesson. Even if the auto folks mean well, it can still cost you much time and money. The various state lemon laws came about for a very good reason and I will certainly go that route if I have the same experience with my 2005/6 Avalon should I buy one.
Your last statement is kind of puzzling, though -- you are unhappy with your Avalon and with Toyota, yet you might consider buying another and are already thinking of going the lemon law route if you do? It might be that you should look elsewhere and save yourself some anticipated grief. Just a thought.
Thanks!
http://fleet.toyota.com/html/vin_decoder.asp
Thanks...very interesting!
Went for a ride this afternoon....it was great. Everywhere I go with this car, people turn their heads!
I have named it Black Beauty!!!!
RONN
I'm still waiting for my car that I ordered the end of February. Did anyone at all order a Red Limited without nav?
http://www.donlen.com/best_value_analysis_Compare.asp
RONN
I would like to add that when I filled up today, I got 21mpg for in town driving once again!!!
MikeS.
RONN
The other thing is Toyotas just handle better. I really missed that when I went to the Buick. My Camry was a great car, and I also had a wonderful sporty Corrolla GTS. It was sharp. All of the Toyota's were trouble free for me. I hope you enjoy your's. You will find a wealth of information here, and sometimes a little crazyness, but we all love our cars and will help you anyway we can with questions. Have a great evening.
RONN
tOM A
Thanks, love this forum
I think I understand toyava03's dilemna. Toyava03 loves the avalon and is willing to risk a future problem/defect because there is no other vehicle providing the combination of size/features/safety/reliability/etc which toyava03 needs - that's frustrating because in toyava03's mind, shopping another car may not be a desireable option (I can sympathize because I'm upset toyota doesn't offer vsc in their best-handling avalon, the Touring).
Having been stung once toyava03 is leery of being stung again, hopes toyota has remedied the previous generation's steering pull, and expects that Toyota would "do the right thing" regarding any future probs toyava03 experiences with an 05/06 avalon.
Lesson learned: life's a compromise.
Regards,
Deannie
What can I say except......I think you are very perceptive and your description of both is right on the money !
Good luck and let me know how it works out. You choosing a heck of a car and I wish you the best!
Please also indicate whether you have also driven a Limited for comparison
For Limited owners ..did you drive an XL , XLS or Touring and see a big difference in the cars? Thanks
Has anyone else done this. If so, what would you recommend as how to arrange the system, GPS manufacturer, power cords and DVD?
How long is it taking before I can take delivery on the Limited. Can we go online to get some idea.
Pablo2